What does it really take to achieve entrepreneurial success?
From my experience as a business development consultant and entrepreneurial coach, I have seen two different schools of thought on this issue.
1. It Takes WILL To Succeed As An Entrepreneur
The first school of thought believes that entrepreneurial success is a matter of determination –WILL.
The underlying assumption is this; if you are determined to succeed, you will succeed. This underlying assumption is built around the belief that the sheer doggedness of an entrepreneur largely contributes to their entrepreneurial success.
To this school of thought, success is achieved so long as you don’t give up. Entrepreneurial success follows this pattern; the longer you work, the harder you work and the tighter you hold on to your entrepreneurial dreams, success will be yours eventually.
2. It Takes SKILLS To Succeed As An Entrepreneur
The second school of thought believes that entrepreneurial success is a matter of education –SKILL.
The underlying assumption is this; if you are committed to continuous learning, you will succeed. This underlying assumption is built around the belief that the extent to which an entrepreneur acquires relevant business skills, largely contributes to their entrepreneurial success.
To this school of thought, success is achieved so long as you keep improving your knowledge of business. Entrepreneurial success follows this pattern; the more you learn, the smarter you work and the clearer your entrepreneurial dreams become, then success will come!
Entrepreneurial Success: WILL or SKILL?
From my own story and from personal experiences; both the ‘will’ and the ‘skill’ matter when it comes to succeeding as an entrepreneur.
The will is what got you started on the entrepreneur’s journey in the first place. The will is the passion you carry that you want to translate into reality by building a business that matters. The greatest calamity that can befall any entrepreneur is thinking that passion and determination [will] alone is all you need to make your entrepreneurial dreams a reality.
Beyond passion, beyond determination is education [skill].
Your passion, your determination and motivation needs direction. And that’s where education comes in. No matter how passionate you are about your business, no matter how determined you are about success, nothing will happen until you begin to take informed actions.
And the only source of informed action is education.
Informed action is the difference between entrepreneurs who succeed and those who fail in business. Trying to pursue your entrepreneurial dreams with only passion, determination and motivation –WILL, is what I call; “doing business”–hustlepreneurship.
It’s very counterproductive. Why? Because it is a business powered by energy, rather than strategy. Your energy can only carry you so far, sooner or later; you will run out of energy. Then what happens?
Your energy [will] is limited. There’s only so much you can do alone. That’s why you need strategy
, to make sure that your energy is properly dispensed to achieve optimum results. The more you align your energy [will] with strategy , the more entrepreneurial success you will achieve.
EXECUTE your WILL with a SKILL
The will to prepare is the greatest secret to entrepreneurial success. The difference between entrepreneurs who dream and entrepreneurs who achieve their dreams is this; the willingness to prepare.
Your willingness to prepare, to acquire the relevant education, training, or information required to achieve your entrepreneurial dreams; is the secret to entrepreneurial success. Your will [energy] needs to be executed with a skill [strategy].
Without the right skill [strategy] to execute your will [energy], your entrepreneurial success is a gamble. You will keep trying and failing. Eventually, out of frustration or old age, you will give up the hustle.
It’s no use beating around the bush and hoping that your energy will carry you through. That’s the definition of entrepreneurial foolishness. As an entrepreneur, you need to be strategic in ALL that you do regarding your business.
And being strategic is all about alignment.
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You have to be CLEAR about where you are GOING –vision, goal, or objective.
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You have to be DELIBERATE about what you are DOING –execution, action or activities.
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You have to be KNOWLEDGABLE about how to DO it –education, information or training.
Conclusion
Entrepreneurial success is a double-sided equation of both willingness and skillfulness. You cannot succeed with only one side of the equation. Your willingness [energy] is the fuel for the journey and your skillfulness [strategy] is the map for the journey.
Without fuel [willingness], you’ll be stuck half-way and without a map [skillfulness], you’ll end up lost. In other words, you need business skills as well as a personal will to succeed as an entrepreneur.
Entrepreneurial Success = Willingness [energy] + Skillfulness [strategy]
Additional Reading....
Entrepreneurial FOOLISHNESS: How To Become A Better FOOL In Business 
3 Highly Effective Business Success Habits 
PRICING: How To Charge Whatever You Like Without Losing The Customer!
The Psychology Of Business Success: How To Succeed As An Entrepreneur
EXPOSED: The Ultimate Guide to Entrepreneurship
The Entrepreneurial Advantage: Why Entrepreneurs Succeed Faster Than Others
Interesting perspective Tito. I can’t really disagree with either of those, but I’d probably put “will” above “skill” and I’ll tell you why.
When I decided to go into business on my own, I knew I had all the skills I needed to be able to do what I had to do. What I’ve needed more than anything else over the years is the constant “will” do be ready to do what’s necessary to get clients so I can make money off my skills. Psychologically that can be the toughest thing to deal with most of the time because it’s easy to maintain one’s skills as an alternative to getting mentally beaten up trying to get new clients.
Thanks Mitch,
Been a while, always appreciate your contribution.
Yours is a very different scenario, because you already had the necessary business skills apart from the technical skills to meet your client needs. You just needed to apply your will to do them.
This post is trying to address the majority of entrepreneurs who only possess technical skills and lack business skills. But rather than find out what more skills they need to acquire, they expend their will doing the wrong things repeatedly with the HOPE that someday, things will work out for the better.
Isn’t it much better to spend your will doing the right things, than just trying one’s luck doing the wrong things?
We all possess the WILL to succeed, but the key difference is on WHAT and HOW we apply our WILL. If your will isn’t not applied with a SKILL, then achieving the desired results is always going to be harder and longer.
In conclusion, let our WILL inspire us to learn WHAT it takes to succeed and apply them!
Thank you so much for sharing great information.
I really want to be successful in business but I feel lazy because it takes a lot of time and effort. And most of all I don’t know where to start 🙁
your article is very helpful 🙂